Pakistani hostages killed

Iraqi terrorists have killed two Pakistani hostages. This is in contrast to the previous case where they released a Pakistani hostage supposedly due to pleas by his old mother.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister was in Saudi Arabia for a few days last week, where they discussed the formation of a Muslim peacekeeping force for Iraq that was announced by Saudi Arabia today. It is quite likely that Pakistani forces will constitute the bulk of this force with nominal participation by other Islamic states.

Saudi Arabia, however, is not very well liked by Iraqis. While it is not clear whether the Pakistanis were kidnapped deliberately at a time when the Saudi-Pakistan discussions were in progress or their murder was in response to it, the connection remains a possibility.